The Arab writer in English

This book looks at the English writings of four twentieth-century Anglo-Arab and Arab American writers: Ameen Rihani, Khalil Jibran, George Antonius and Edward Atiyah. The Introduction investigates: Why should an Arab writer write in English? How do these writers negotiate encoding Arab meanings within an alien discourse? How is Anglo-Arab discourse political, and what are its politics? Does Anglo-Arab writing belong to the category of post-colonial literature?

These issues are then explored at greater length in the succeeding chapters. While each writer is assigned a separate chapter, cross-referencing creates a sustained "dialogue" between two or more writers in a given chapter.